West Leigh Juniors Weekly News 20th September 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we approach the end of our second full week of the new school year, it has been wonderful to see how well the children have settled into school life.

This week, our Year 5 children have enjoyed a wonderful few days either at West Mersea or the local area. We look forward to sharing further details about these visits in next week's newsletter.

Best wishes for a lovely weekend.

Mr Aggus

Principal

Year 3

The children have settled into Year 3 and are now starting to enjoy a range of clubs and learning opportunities.

During our Layered Reading lesson, Stone-Age Boy provided the children with a wealth of information about Stone Age life. By studying the illustrations, the children could see many ways in which our ancestors were both skilful and resourceful. In other English lessons, the children have been identifying the features of instructional texts and applying instructional language to guide each other around the gym trail.

Maths lessons have continued to focus on place value skills and the application of these to solve a range of problems. The children have shown resilience and determination to apply their knowledge to new situations.

In science, the children have continued to learn about different diets. They have used the terms carnivore, omnivore and herbivore to sort a variety of animals into groups.

As part of our Connected Curriculum, the children have been developing their sketching skills and using these to sketch a Stone Age animal of their choice with some impressive results. They have also learnt to locate some important features of the United Kingdom on a map by using coordinates and by plotting the location of some of the remaining Stone Age stone circles.

Finally, if you are able to accompany your child’s class when they visit the woods, please write a note in their Communication Book and ask them to show it to their class teacher. Thank you.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Curriculum Meeting - 16.09.2024
• Whole School - Portico Attendance Letter - 16.09.2024

Year 4

The children have now fully settled into their Year 4 classes and have been working very hard.

This week, English lessons have allowed the children to really show off their creative skills. They have been writing a story based on their chosen explorer in search of Egyptian treasure! Using their plan, they carefully structured the story and included descriptive devices such as noun phrases, the five senses and ‘show, not tell’. Their imagination is to be commended.

In maths, we have continued to focus on place value. The children have demonstrated their knowledge by partitioning numbers up to 10,000. They applied this skill when comparing and ordering numbers using the correct mathematical symbols. They have used number lines and studied number sequences (some including negative numbers) in order to find missing values. Some groups also practised adding and subtracting 1000 to numbers up to 100,000 and beyond.

As scientists, the children have learnt about animals' teeth. They discovered that specific types of teeth are unique to a particular diet. The children successfully identified the species by studying animal skulls.

In history, the children used a photograph, taken at the time of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, to deduce what had happened. Using pictures of items found in the tomb, they worked in groups to justify why the item had been buried along with the pharaoh.

In PSHE, the children enjoyed looking at food packaging and used this information to identify healthy and unhealthy food choices.

Note for diaries: 4E are at Coastal Schools on the morning of Monday 23rd September and 4SW on Thursday 26th. Please ensure that the children are wearing suitable clothing and footwear. Many thanks.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Curriculum Meeting - 16.09.2024
• Whole School - Portico Attendance Letter - 16.09.2024

Year 5

Despite the excitement about their trips to Mersea and Southend, Year 5 began their second full week ready to learn.

Our Layered Reading text this term is the fantastic Firework Maker’s Daughter by Phillip Pullman. This week, the children considered the relationship between two of the main characters and decided to whom they felt the most empathy. In some classes, this was achieved through drama. The children went on to decide whether the relationship between them was positive or negative, using evidence to support their answers.

In maths lessons, we have continued to work on a wide variety of number skills including rounding and ways of successfully adding and subtracting larger numbers mentally. These skills, together with further work on addition and subtraction, will form the basis of next week's learning in maths.

Two classes also began their outdoor P.E. lessons at the fields where they worked on running, dodging and passing as part of Tag Rugby.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Curriculum Meeting - 16.09.2024
• Whole School - Portico Attendance Letter - 16.09.2024

Year 6

We are excited to share the latest highlights from our Year 6 curriculum:

English & History: Pupils have embarked on a captivating journey through the challenging events of Kindertransport. They've combined historical research with dramatic re-enactments using green screen technology. This immersive approach has allowed them to not only learn about the past but also empathise with the children who experienced Kindertransport. Moreover, their creative writing skills have flourished as they captured the emotions and history of this period through their narratives.

Mathematics: Year 6 has been delving deeper into mathematics, focusing on understanding various calculation strategies and honing their problem-solving skills. The curriculum has challenged them to think critically and approach complex problems with confidence.

Science: Our budding scientists have been exploring the fascinating world of circuits. They've learned about the different components that make up circuits and how these work together to create electricity. Through hands-on experiments and practical learning, they've witnessed the magic of circuitry firsthand, fostering their curiosity about science and technology.

11+ Selection Tests: As we approach the weekend, we would like to wish any pupils who will be taking the 11+ Selection tests on Saturday morning the best of luck…and then to enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Curriculum Meeting - 16.09.2024
• Whole School - Portico Attendance Letter - 16.09.2024

Key Notices this Week

Uniform: Please ensure that all school uniform, coats and items worn into school, along with water bottles, lunchboxes and snack pots, are labelled with your child’s name.

Outstanding Balances: Please ensure that all outstanding balances for Breakfast Club, After School Club, music tuition, extra-curricular activities and trips are settled as soon as possible.

End of the School Day: At the end of the school day, please ensure that your child/children do not hang on the tree branches as we have experienced some damage. Also, children should only use the monkey bars under adult supervision. We kindly remind parents that children must not stand on the top of this structure.

Dental Health Offer: Wisdom Dental, a local dentist, have offered the parents and pupils at West Leigh free hygienist appointments with their student hygienists. These appointments are 90 minutes long and include diet advice, oral hygiene instructions, a gum health assessment and polishing of the teeth. The student hygienists are supervised by experienced, qualified dental hygienists and are fully DBS checked with up to date safeguarding training. If this is something you wish to take up, please call the practice on 01702 886840 and quote WESTLEIGH.

Messages and Letters: If you need to share a message with your child's class teacher, please pop this in the Communication Book and make your child aware that they will need to share this with their teacher. As the office can become incredibly busy first thing in the morning, we also kindly ask that return slips and/or money are sent in with your child, rather than handed in at the office by parents. This will also help us to build on the importance of taking responsibility.

Messages from FOWLS

FOWLS - AGM & XMAS FAYRE

Welcome back to school and we hope you enjoyed a great summer. For those who are new to the school, FOWLS (Friends of West Leigh Schools) focus on fund-raising activities for both schools.

We would like to invite everyone to our annual AGM for FOWLS on 24th September at 7.30pm in the main dining hall. During this meeting, we will cover all the exciting plans for the year ahead and provide details of personnel changes, our full financial position etc.

Everyone is welcome and we would love to have your input on what else you would like to see from FOWLS and feedback on what we can do better. We look forward to seeing you.

Also, we are already hard at work putting together this year's Christmas Fayre. We now have a date confirmed for Saturday 30th November at 12pm and this year will be our best yet. The whole event is manned by volunteers and we will need as many as we can get. Can you spare an hour or two on the day? If so, please message simontaylor7472@gmail.com and we will include you.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

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